Impact of a nations culture on high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship success

Impact of a nations culture on high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship success

The aim of our activities are to address cultural aspects for high-tech entrepreneurship and high-tech innovation success.

We do this by providing education and information, organizing informational events, conducting (online) workshops and research work.

Research questions we address are e.g.:

What are cultural influencers for success in high-tech companies? (e.g. five key cultural dimensions)

How does culture interact with other innovation ecosystem dimensions (markets, context, institutions)?

What measures can be taken to overcome cultural influencers early in high-tech companies and increase their success rates? (e.g. how to create a balanced founder team)

Can the magnitude of success be influenced by these measures? (e.g. create more unicorns and more high-tech jobs)

Can the value of high-tech companies be increased? (e.g. enable exits in the hundreds of millions USD)

In order for a nation to excel in technological entrepreneurship and high-tech innovations many aspects play a role. Our advisor – Prof. Shlomo Maital – who has 30 years’ experience in entrepreneurship education – talks in his book (Mapping National Innovation Ecoystems 1) ) about the four key dimensions of innovation that build a generic innovation ecosystem:

culture;

markets;

context (including infrastructure); and

institutions (including regulations).

While these four dimensions interact in complex ways, one of the most important one and maybe the most critical for large success is culture.

Why is this?

Following a few collected thoughts supporting the importance of culture for innovation adoption and entrepreneurship success:

The organizations that compete best in competitive environments are those that learn the fastest to adapt to changing circumstances. – Peter Drucker

Scholars who use culture and other factors to explain cross-country differences in high-tech industry include Chen (2008) and to explain differences in entrepreneurship Ardagna et al. (2008).

Power distance dimension (refers to the inequality of the distribution of power in a country) and uncertainty avoidance dimensions (the degree to which members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity) are the most significant cultural factors by which some of the differences in ICT adoption rates among countries can be explained. The research on the role of culture (shared values) should be balanced by noting that often, entrepreneurs have unique personality traits that shape how they behave (Nga et al., 2010).

Cautious note: Culture is essentially a “given”. To some degree, company culture can be shaped, but perhaps less than many companies pretend. Nor should value judgments, “good” and “bad”, be attached to cultural dimensions. They are simply there, like body height and eye color. However, in order to “fit” innovation policy to a nation’s ecosystem, it is important to understand the nature of a nation’s culture and the constraints and opportunities it provides.

“Kreiser et al. (2010) use data from 1048 firms in six countries to assess the impact of national culture on entrepreneurship, and focus on a key aspect of culture, that of risk-taking among SMEs.”

Hofstede et al. (2010) deepened our understanding of culture and its role in management by quantifying five key cultural dimensions.

Individual/collectivemeasures how people live and work in groups or each chooses his or her own path; it measures how and whether individual achievement is highly valued.

Masculinitymeasures masculine traits in the culture, like aggression, competitiveness and materialism.

Uncertainty avoidancemeasures how people react to uncertainty and risk.

Long-term/ short-termmeasures whether people focus on immediate, short-term gratification or are patient and seek long-term reward.

Power distancemeasures the extent to which society is rigidly hierarchical, with highly perceived distance between those at the top and at the bottom, or “flat”, where people perceive they can interact with and communicate with those in control, no matter where they are in the hierarchy.

Min-max scores, countries

Switzerland (estimated)

Explanations/examples

Individual/collective

Israel, USA and China above average

Europe average

Below average

In Switzerland entrepreneurship does not have the same status as working for established companies. Success does not have the same recognition as in Israel, US or China.

Masculinity

Europe average

Israel and Latin America higher

average

Uncertainty avoidance

China 35
USA 46
world average 65

Japan 90
Europe average 74

80+

few Japanese take entrepreneurial risk indicating overall, an aversion to uncertainty (and perhaps the risk attendant on innovation).

Long-term/ short-term

48 world average
USA, 30 Britain, Canada, 20

China 95
Japan 80
India, 61
Asian average 85

80

China’s saving rates
Asian innovators are more patient in working on long-term projects. Impatience may explain entrepreneurial urgency in the West, but failure in longer-term projects.

Power distance

Israel low
40 USA
30 UK

80 China
77 India

70

Silicon Valley entrepreneurship garage startup culture

1) The above content was partly taken from but adapted and extended:

Mapping National Innovation Ecosystems

Amnon Frenkel, Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and Senior Research Fellow

“I think the big challenge we face here in Switzerland is we’re still lacking in the startup DNA,” explains Mike Baur, the co-founder and executive chairman of Swiss Startup Factory, a Zurich-based accelerator.

Our experts advise and support ambitious high-tech companies and startups in expanding their business outside of Switzerland, become global success stories.

Lobbying

Through constructive engagement with global innovation ecosystems High-Tech Connect works to learn stakeholders requirements, formulate Swiss innovation ecosystem requirements and address these with the authorities and government to help Switzerland prioritize and ultimately maximize its success now and in the future.

Events

High-Tech Connect holds several events. There are two types of events: global innovation ecosystem exchanges (with Silicon Valley, Israel, China, Europe, etc.) and high-tech trend events. We understand the value of learning from each other’s success stories, first-hand experiences and networking. Our events enable members to keep up-to-date with what the global high-tech trends will bring and how they can benefit from and be a part of it.

Innovation Finance Consultancy​

Innovation financing has become a challenge for many Swiss startups. This is particularly true for follow on investments. Our network and that of our partners can advise our members on a consultancy basis..

High-tech Trends and Innovation Ecosystem Trips

Through international business development trips to Silicon Valley, Israel, China and other places, our members can learn first-hand about latest high-tech trends and innovation ecosystems. These trips are not mere sightseeing or educational, but focus on specific business topics such as e.g. security startups in Israel, or leading startups in Silicon Valley seeking EMEA headquarters (possible in Switzerland) and others.

Professional Training​

Through its own courses and in partnership with others, High-Tech Connect offers a selection of courses designed to enable its members to learn what it takes to benefit from the latest high-tech trends, as well as how to grow a high-tech company globally to compete with the biggest success stories.